WEBVTT 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.820 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:10.060 of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ, glory 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:22.140 forever. Dear brothers and sisters, in Christ, 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:32.700 my dear friends, here we are once again. We hear 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:40.579 a gospel of our Lord's compassion. He's there 00:00:40.579 --> 00:00:43.420 with 5 ,000 people, which to us right now, a 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:47.399 gathering of 5 ,000 Christians, doesn't seem 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:54.200 quite possible. But we are not dismayed. We are 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:57.859 not disturbed. Because whether it's the 12 apostles 00:00:57.859 --> 00:01:04.859 only, or 5 ,000, God is with us. And he feeds 00:01:04.859 --> 00:01:11.799 us, too. Let us not be dismayed, but have hope 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:20.019 and courage. It has to be said that Jesus was 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:24.159 not a politician. The people thought he might 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:27.569 be. They wanted to make him king after he fed 00:01:27.569 --> 00:01:29.530 them, which is why the gospel ends with, and 00:01:29.530 --> 00:01:31.930 immediately he told the apostles to get into 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:33.870 the boat and get out of there, and he sent the 00:01:33.870 --> 00:01:36.310 multitude away. They wanted to make him a king. 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:43.829 The Lord didn't organize political rallies. He 00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:46.549 didn't have to. In fact, after John the Baptist 00:01:46.549 --> 00:01:50.150 was murdered by Herod, which you can read about 00:01:50.150 --> 00:01:52.709 in the previous few verses that we just heard 00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:56.709 from what we just heard, Jesus wanted to be alone. 00:01:58.189 --> 00:02:02.189 He went away with his disciples into a boat and 00:02:02.189 --> 00:02:06.409 along the shore multitudes are following to keep 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:08.330 track of the sail of the boat. Where is he going 00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:14.110 to be? Where is he going to be? Why? Because 00:02:14.110 --> 00:02:17.289 he had compassion on them and he loved them. 00:02:17.629 --> 00:02:20.050 Have you noticed how Jesus' hands transformed 00:02:20.050 --> 00:02:24.780 everything? Everything he touched. A blind man 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:29.360 who lived in the blackest night, when he was 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.379 touched by Jesus' hands, color and light came 00:02:33.379 --> 00:02:38.319 into his eyes and his soul. A widow's son died, 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:42.400 and the poor woman was in terrible grief. And 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.120 he says to her, weep not. He touches the coffin, 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:51.699 and the man, the cold corpse, rises up. Today's 00:02:51.699 --> 00:02:56.860 Gospel. Lord's compassion for the multitude, 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:02.159 5 ,000 families, following him for miles and 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.240 miles to be with him, and when they caught up 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:09.400 with him, they were with him all day, listening 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:14.060 to him, and it says he healed them. He healed 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:19.740 the sick, and he taught them. We are Christians. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:25.240 We follow the way of Christ. We are to be like 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:31.139 Christ. This is our goal. God gives us so much 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:37.199 grace that you know we can be like God. God became 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:41.139 man so that we could be like him. God is compassionate. 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:44.659 Christianity without compassion is only a religion. 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:49.860 And a religion without compassion, as we've seen 00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:54.520 over and over again, and are now seen in living 00:03:54.520 --> 00:04:00.460 color, gives birth to great evils. It can sneak 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:05.740 up on you. Be compassionate. The blessed hands 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:07.860 of Jesus, which would be nailed to the cross, 00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:15.340 which Thomas would want to see as proof, here 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:19.819 take a bit of bread and a couple of fish, a young 00:04:19.819 --> 00:04:23.949 man's sack lunch, basically. And he touches them, 00:04:24.069 --> 00:04:28.350 and they multiply. And he gives them to the apostles, 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:33.029 and 12 baskets are left over. You notice what 00:04:33.029 --> 00:04:36.129 it says. He gives thanks, and he breaks the bread, 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:44.269 looking up to heaven. And all, it says, all were 00:04:44.269 --> 00:04:49.589 satisfied. How rare that is. All were satisfied. 00:04:50.509 --> 00:04:53.290 Something that happens extremely infrequently 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:57.089 in any community, in any family, in any situation. 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:02.449 Here, before Jesus, all were satisfied. Without 00:05:02.449 --> 00:05:08.029 Jesus, we do not and have never will have adequate 00:05:08.029 --> 00:05:12.470 resources to meet anyone else's needs to satisfy 00:05:12.470 --> 00:05:18.060 ourself even. But we do. We do have. What we 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:21.920 do have is the blessed opportunity to quit complaining 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:28.180 about what we don't have and to thank God for 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:31.500 what we do have and to trust God who places his 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:35.019 hands on whatever meager offering and effort 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:39.459 and prayer and prostration and song. Lift up 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:41.620 your voices, my brothers and sisters, today. 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:47.160 Sing. We're outside. Sing. God will add to that 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:52.300 with the angels. And he will fill every need 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:57.879 we have. This goes for parish life. This goes 00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:02.360 for our fellowship. Our God is the God of abundance. 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:06.500 Jesus says, I have come that they may have life 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:11.000 and have life more abundantly. Eternal life. 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:15.620 But like the people in the gospel, after we're 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:21.480 fed and satisfied, we want something else from 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:25.779 Jesus. That's not quite enough. And he wants 00:06:25.779 --> 00:06:28.459 to give us something else. But it's often not 00:06:28.459 --> 00:06:31.759 what we want, it's what we need. The apostle 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:36.319 Paul assures us in Philippians that God shall 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:40.779 supply all your need. He doesn't say wants and 00:06:40.779 --> 00:06:43.740 whims, but all our need according to his riches 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:49.500 and glory by Christ Jesus. So begin with prayer. 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:53.879 Put your heart in the prayer and see how God 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:57.680 will lift that up and multiply that effort and 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:03.019 grant grace and pour it upon you. Give us this 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:08.629 day our daily bread. Isn't that enough? The word 00:07:08.629 --> 00:07:12.589 daily there in Greek is iperousion, which means 00:07:12.589 --> 00:07:18.069 enough to get us through tomorrow. But it also 00:07:18.069 --> 00:07:21.250 means something else. St. Cyprian of Carthage 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:27.329 says it's the bread of the holy altar. That the 00:07:27.329 --> 00:07:31.209 feeding of the 5 ,000 families was a foreshadowing 00:07:31.209 --> 00:07:37.680 of the holy Eucharist. Today, We're going to 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:44.699 be fed by God himself. When you see my hand and 00:07:44.699 --> 00:07:48.459 the spoon, believe it is the hand of Christ. 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:51.779 That's why this cup is here, so that my hand 00:07:51.779 --> 00:07:54.699 is no longer contiguous with my arm. It becomes 00:07:54.699 --> 00:07:58.480 Christ's hand, we believe. And let us be satisfied. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:04.870 Saint. St. Simeon, the new theologian, writes 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:06.850 in his prayer before communion something like, 00:08:07.050 --> 00:08:12.050 Having been given the deified body and blood, 00:08:12.209 --> 00:08:15.589 O Christ, we are no longer alone, but are with 00:08:15.589 --> 00:08:20.689 thee, who does illumine the whole world. St. 00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:23.930 Theophon says this, When going to the holy mysteries, 00:08:24.189 --> 00:08:30.269 go with simplicity of heart, in full faith that 00:08:30.269 --> 00:08:33.399 you will receive the Lord within yourself. and 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.559 with proper reverence towards this. What is your 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:42.120 state of mind after this? Leave it to the Lord. 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:45.860 Many desire ahead of time to receive that or 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:48.899 this from Holy Communion, and then, not seeing 00:08:48.899 --> 00:08:52.860 what they wanted, they're troubled. And even 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:55.899 their faith is in the power of the mystery which 00:08:55.899 --> 00:08:58.860 is shaken. The fault lies not with the Holy Mystery 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:01.360 of Communion, but with superficial assumptions. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:06.620 Do not promise yourself anything. Leave everything 00:09:06.620 --> 00:09:11.919 to the Lord, asking a single mercy from him to 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:16.059 strengthen you in every kind of good so that 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.840 you will be acceptable to him and filled with 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:24.159 his compassion. The fruit of communion most often 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:27.179 is a taste of sweet peace, of God's compassion 00:09:27.179 --> 00:09:30.879 in the heart. Sometimes it brings enlightenment 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:34.649 to our thought. Sometimes inspiration to our 00:09:34.649 --> 00:09:37.730 devotion to the Lord. Sometimes almost nothing 00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:40.990 is apparent. But afterward, in one's affairs 00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:47.330 and relationships, there is strength and steadfastness 00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:55.090 in Christ. Because he has given us himself. To 00:09:55.090 --> 00:09:58.850 our Lord be glory, now and ever, to ages of ages. 00:09:59.110 --> 00:09:59.769 Amen.